Pay-as-you-go
Pay-as-you-go is a usage-based billing model: no subscription lock-in — you are billed for actual usage (e.g. tokens consumed) and only pay for what you use.
Why LLM APIs fit pay-as-you-go
AI call costs scale linearly with usage (per-token pricing), and early-stage usage is hard to predict. Pay-as-you-go drives experimentation cost toward zero: individual developers start on a free quota, enterprises scale smoothly as business grows.
- No lock-in: never pay for seats or quota you don't use.
- Predictable: unit price × usage — a simple, transparent cost model.
- Optimizable: route to better-value models and watch the bill drop.
FAQ
Pay-as-you-go or subscription — which is cheaper?
When usage is low or spiky, pay-as-you-go wins by a wide margin — unused subscription quota is pure waste. Committed-volume contracts only make sense for stable, high concurrency with negotiated discounts.
How do I prevent runaway bills with pay-as-you-go?
Three tools: per-API-key spending caps, budget alerts, and smart routing that sends simple requests to cheaper models. The HeFu console supports all three out of the box.